WNCC women, men fall to Lamar on the road

                LAMAR, Colo. – The Western Nebraska Community College women’s and men’s basketball teams found making baskets difficult Wednesday evening against Lamar Community College in Lamar, Colorado, as the Cougar teams dropped South Sub-region contests to the Lopes.

                The women’s game saw WNCC shot just 23 percent from the field and make just two 3-pointers as the Lopes won 61-40. Lamar moves into first place in the sub-region, a half-game ahead of WNCC and McCook. McCook fell to North Platte on Wednesday 68-62.

                The Cougar women fall to 17-9 overall and 7-3 in conference. McCook is 7-3 in conference while Lamar is 7-2.

                As for the men, they shot 42 percent from the game, but were out-scored 50-32 in the second half to fall 90-65. WNCC falls to 3-7 in the conference and is still within distance to host a first-round playoff game.

                The two teams will be back in action Saturday when they travel to Lincoln to face Southeast Community College. The Southeast men fell to Northeastern Junior College Wednesday night 78-47 while the Southeast women defeated NJC 86-60.

                In the women’s contest, the Cougars got behind the eight ball early as they scored just six points in the first and second quarter while Lamar netted 19 points in each quarter for a 38-12 halftime lead.

                The second half was a different story as the Cougars outscored Lamar 28-23. WNCC trailed 44-14 early in the third and then went on a 7-0 run to get to within 44-21 behind back-to-back buckets by Juseana-Rae Delatori. Lamar led 47-23 after three.

                The Cougars then outscored Lamar 17-14 in the fourth quarter and was within 21 points at 49-29 after a Zozefine Sipolina triple and a Charisma Johnson bucket. WNCC, however, never could get closet that 20 points.

                WNCC had just one in double figures, led by Johnson with 13 with Delatori right behind with eight points.

                On the men’s side it was a good contest in the first half. WNCC held a 19-16 lead on a Toms Linis 3-pointer The two teams were then tied at 25-25 after a Isaiah St. Preux triple. That was when Lamar took off on a 13-6 run to lead 39-31. Lamar led 40-33 at halftime.

                The start of the second half went Lamar’s way as they went on a 13-3 run  and led 53-36. WNCC did get to within 15 points at 66-51 on buckets by Amare Jackson and Xavier Kirkpatrick. After that, Lamar went on a 17-6 run to lead 83-57 with just under three minutes to play.

                WNCC had two in double figures, led by Jackson with 14 and Isaiah St. Preux with 12.

Women’s Game

WNCC                6 6 11 17 – 40

Lamar                 19 19 9 14 – 61

WNCC

Charisma Johnson 13, Juseana-Rae Delatori 8, Zozefine Sipolina 6, Ella Chesta-Carty 5, Aniaya Burton-Hernandez 4, Ruth Lively 2, Celina Donyo 2.

Men’s Game

WNCC                33 32 – 65

Lamar                 40 50 – 90

WNCC

Amare Jackson 14, Isaiah St. Preux 12, Toms Linis 8, Noah Jones 7, Kellon Harris 7, Viktor Lukic-Gavric 6, Xavier Kirkpatrick, Dorin Niguema 4, Melchi Egbeyemi 2.